Fulham welcome Aston Villa to Craven Cottage on Monday evening looking to end a two-match losing streak since their return to the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Villa take on last season's Championship playoff winners on the back of three successive victories in all competitions.
Match preview
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On the back of spending of £70m in the transfer market and agreeing long-term deals with Tyrone Mings and Jack Grealish, Dean Smith knows that the stakes are now far higher than simply keeping the West Midlands outfit in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, with three successive wins to begin the season, Smith will be optimistic that everything is in place to ensure that Villa do not experience another battle to remain out of the relegation zone.
Although two of those victories have come against lower-league opposition in the EFL Cup, the 3-0 triumph over early Championship pace-setters Bristol City highlighted the depth of Smith's new-look squad.
As well as setting up a last-16 tie with Stoke City, Villa have also defeated Sheffield United in the Premier League, a result which partly came about due to an early dismissal for the Blades.
Beginning the campaign with three points has eased the pressure ahead of this game, however, and Smith will feel that his side can go in search of another maximum return.
From Fulham's perspective, manager Scott Parker will be torn between viewing this contest as a must-not-lose and seeing it as an ideal opportunity to make headway up the standings.
Being provided with an opening double-header against Arsenal and Leeds United left the Cottagers in a position where they were always going to find it difficult to get a point on the board during the early weeks.
With successive setbacks having now materialised, Parker must now assess the options in his squad having witnessed his second-string post two wins in the EFL Cup.
Parker will not want to rely on the contributions of Aleksandar Mitrovic, but the Serbian's double in the 4-3 defeat at Leeds strengthened the argument that he will have to stay fit for Fulham to remain in this division.
Fulham Premier League form: LL
Fulham form (all competitions): LWLW
Aston Villa Premier League form: W
Aston Villa form (all competitions): WWW
Team News
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Despite witnessing his Fulham side concede four times at Elland Road, Parker is expected to keep the same backline.
However, there could be a change in midfield, with Bobby Decordova-Reid in line to replace Josh Onomah after his goal against Leeds.
Aboubakar Kamara may switch to the flank to accommodate the return of Mitrovic, who was rested against Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup.
Smith is likely to name the same Villa XI which began the win over Sheffield United.
That would result in Bertrand Traore, who netted on his debut against Bristol City, having to bide his time among the replacements.
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Areola; Tete, Hector, Ream, Bryan; Reed, Zambo Anguissa; Kamara, Cordova-Reid, Cavaleiro; Mitrovic
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Luiz, Hourihane; Trezeguet, Watkins, Grealish
We say: Fulham 1-1 Aston Villa
With their respective forward lines arguably stronger than their defences, there is scope for this game to feature several goals. However, we are predicting a relatively uneventful affair in the capital, one which could end in a share of the spoils.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:dataVideo prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fulham win with a probability of 41.59%. A win for Aston Villa had a probability of 32.48% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fulham win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.78%) and 2-0 (7.15%). The likeliest Aston Villa win was 0-1 (8.65%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.32%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 2.2% likelihood.
